From prison to pastry: Dubai inmates rebuild lives with skills learned behind bars

A former teacher who was jailed in Dubai on a drug-related charge later launched a successful cake business using decorative techniques she mastered while incarcerated, according to a former senior prison official.

Brigadier Jameela Al Zaabi, former director of Dubai Police’s women’s prison, recounted the case on the Arab Cast podcast hosted by Ahmed Al Zarouni. She offered a personal perspective on how courses, paid work and structured routines are used at the facility, while stressing that imprisonment still means the loss of freedom.

From classroom to cell

The woman had been teaching in a Gulf country, Al Zaabi said. During a stopover in Dubai while travelling from her home country, she was arrested after a man she knew persuaded her to carry pills, telling her they were for headaches.

The former director described the woman as devastated by the contrast between her former profession and her imprisonment. Al Zaabi quoted the woman as saying, “I used to teach generations. Now I have ended up here in prison.”

While in custody, the woman took courses and began making handicrafts and decorative items. She converted to Islam and memorised about 15 parts of the Quran, Al Zaabi said.

The teacher had been sentenced to around 10 years but was released after serving approximately four and a half years due to good conduct and Quran study, Al Zaabi recalled.

After leaving the UAE, the woman stayed in touch and sent photographs of the cake shop she had opened with her sister. She adapted the decorative craft technique to decorate cakes, and the shop later became well known, attracting a loyal customer base.

The work gave the former inmate a way to support herself, Al Zaabi said. Vocational opportunities at Dubai’s women’s prison were also reported in 2018, when workshops included crafts, tailoring and decorative design.

An honest living

Describing the women’s prison during her tenure, Al Zaabi said days had fixed windows for meals and exercise, followed by time in which inmates could enrol in a course or pursue a craft. Some also took on jobs and received wages in cash, she said.

Inmates who made handicrafts or other products received a share when their work was sold, according to Al Zaabi. She said some chose sewing or crochet. The arrangement was intended to familiarise participants with earning an honest living.

The jobs did not include general cleaning of the prison, she added. A company carried out that work; inmates were responsible only for the area around their own beds.

Gym routine draws attention

Al Zaabi also told of an unnamed former female inmate whom she described as a fashion influencer. The woman said after her release she had lost weight while regularly using the prison gym, prompting calls from people who asked whether they could come in to lose weight too.

However, Al Zaabi emphasised the constraint that defines prison life, saying, “There is nothing more precious than freedom.”